Kenya Power employee released on KShs.2 million bond for vandalism

Nairobi, January 31, 2017……. A Marimanti court has granted a Kenya Power employee and one other suspect KShs.2 million bond each with no option of cash bail for vandalism of conductors at Tunyai area, Tharaka Nithi county.

Francis Makori Okioma based at Kenya Power’s Marimanti Depot as a meter reader and Kenneth Kimanthi Njeru were arrested on Sunday for vandalising aluminium conductors from a customer’s home and constructing an illegal line at another person’s premises.

The two appeared before senior resident magistrate yesterday and were charged with the offences of vandalism and unauthorised laying of a conductor. The case will be mentioned on 12th February and hearing is scheduled to take place on 14th March 2018.

The arrests come less than a month after four suspects, among them an armed police officer attached to Kitengela Police station, were arraigned in Mavoko Law Courts for vandalising a high transmission (HT) cable at Athi River. The case is ongoing.

On Monday, an Eldoret court fined Alfred Ouma Oduor KShs.5 million for vandalising conductor wires following his arrest in November last year.

Elsewhere, a prepaid meter and 1,200 meters of aluminium conductors were recovered in Machakos and Nakuru following ongoing operations to track down illegal lines.

As a result of countrywide operations and heightened surveillance on the network to weed out vandalism, illegal connections and other vices undermining the quality of power supply, the Company recorded a 40 per cent reduction in the number of vandalised transformers in the last financial year.